Slaughter represents the final welfare challenge for farmed pigs, and the choice of stunning and killing method has a direct and significant impact on the degree of suffering experienced at end of life.
The welfare of pigs at slaughter is determined by a cascade of decisions — facility design, handling practices, stunning method, and monitoring — that together determine whether animals die quickly and without awareness or experience fear, pain, and distress in their final moments. Carbon dioxide stunning, used in a majority of EU slaughterhouses, causes a period of aversion lasting 15-30 seconds before loss of consciousness — a time during which pigs show clear distress responses. Industry defends CO2 on grounds of practicality and reduced handling stress, but the welfare case for alternatives including inert gas stunning is compelling. Mis-stuns — where animals regain or retain consciousness — occur in every stunning system and require robust monitoring and immediate corrective stunning. The welfare of the final moment is a tangible, improvable metric that food system actors can address through investment in better technology and training.